Problem Formulation Definition of Terms

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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

Bharati Mukherjee‟s The Management of Grief is a short story with religious and cultural theme overarching it. It descibes how immigrants who lost their relatives, in terrorist bombing, face the grief with the various of cultures and religions in their surroundings. To analyze this study, there are some studies to consult in order to enrich any perspectives that important for the study. The first study, written by Katleen Brogan, entitled “American Stories of Cultural Haunting: Tales of Heirs and Ethnographers.” It deals with Bharati Mukherjee‟s The Management of Grief, as a short story, invoking ghosts to dramatize some points in the story. In its article 1995: 150, she mentioned that In “The Management of Grief” 1989, Bharati Mukherjee invokes ghosts to dramatize the divided loyalties and ultimate transformation of immigrants to North America. Brogan‟s study attempts to analyze how ghosts invokes in the short story to dramatize the loyalties and ultimate transformation of immigrants who lost their relatives. It also reflects a phenomenon concerning with the questions of ethnic identity and transmission. Brogan 1995: 151 said that “Plainly, the contemporary American ghost story is not solely an African-American phenomenon; it is, in fact, a pan-ethnic phenomenon, registering a PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI widespread concern with questions of ethnic identity and cultural transmission.” By concerning with the questions of ethnic identity and cultural transmission through the ghosts, she can show the readers how story tells about historical moments and emphasizes on ethnic and differentiation of race in the society. From the above quotations, Brogan considers ghosts as a key point to the short story. Unlike this undergraduate thesis which focuses on cultures and religions through social condition, Brogan‟s study focuses on ethnic and differentiation race through the ghosts. The second study is Mukherjee‟s stories of American transformations. The title of study is “Looting American Culture: Bharati Mukherjee‟s Immigrant Narratives” written by Jennifer Drake. This study attempts to show how Mukherjee‟s stories create an unsettled time that links to the events of everyday life so as to rethink American narratives of immigrants. Drake 1999: 60 said that Mukherjees stories of American transforma- tions create an unsettled time of writing that links the event of the everyday and the advent of the epochal so as to rethink American narratives of immigration. In her tales, people and nations scatter and gather. In that study, it attempts to show that Mukherjee, as an American writer, attempts to show the struggle of immigrants and the imagination in social life. The imagination as social practice and social fact link to fractals, chaos, globalization, or hegemony. Drake 1999: 62 said that The imagination as social practice and social fact works where myth logic meets fractals, chaos, fuzzy set theory; globalization is ineffectually understood purely in terms of Western or U.S. hegemony; narratives of Americanization here and abroad must be interrupted by narratives of indigenization; neither the center nor the periphery can hold, or hold on. From the quotation, in Mukherjee‟s imagination, America is a place in flux and a metaphor representing freedom from Indian. In their society, they face fractals and chaos. Darke 1999: 64 said that “In Mukherjee‟s imagination, America is a place in flux, a metaphor that represents freedom from Indian history-as- fate.” From the quotation, it can be concluded that Darke representing the freedom from Indian history, as their fate, through a metaphor. This undergraduate thesis considers The Management of Grief is a shot story as a cultural and religious story that shows the aspects of postmodernism of the social condition as the setting. The main difference between this undergraduate thesis and Darke‟s study is the object of the study. Darke‟s study attempts to prove the freedom of immigrants in the society through a metaphor, whereas this undergraduate thesis attempts to relate the social condition as the setting in the short story with the aspects of postmodernism. As this short story focuses on the setting, there is a study that analyzes another story with the seting as the turning point. The third study is written by Lisistrata Lusandiana entitled “Power Struggle Between Modernism and Postmodernism to Determine Tru th as Revealed in Restrepo‟s The Angel of PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Galilea. ” She attempts to analyze the description of the society in the novel that shows the setting of time and place. According to her thesis, Lusandiana stated the theory from Holman and Harmon 2009: xxxix-xi that The analysis of the society as setting is based on what Holman and Harmon said about setting, that it can be constructed upon these elements: “first, the actual geographical location, second, the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters, third, the time or period in which the action takes place, fourth, the general environment of the characters, such as religious, moral, mental, social and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move. ” In this part, the time and place in which the actions take place are described. The actions can include conflicts, the condition of characters, such as religious, moral, mental, and emotional. In this undergraduate thesis, The Management of Grief is one of the stories written by Bharati Mukherjee consisting wide-ranging in both setting and theme. The fourth study that discusses about Bharati Mukherjee‟s The Management of Grief is Parameswaran ‟s journal 1990: 363. It is mentioned that “Bharati Mukherjee‟s second volume of short fiction consists of eleven stories that are wide- ranging in both settings and themes.” This undergraduate thesis will analyze The Management of Grief through the setting point of view which explains the condition of the characters during the chaos. The Management of Grief is the final story in the collection entitled The Middleman and Other Stories. It implies that Mukherjee‟s works describing culture or events in opposite directions. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI From those four studies have mentioned, this undergraduate thesis stated on aspects of postmodernism of the social condition as the setting in Bharati Mukherjee‟s The Management of Grief. In this undergraduate thesis, there are different perspectives from the previous studies. The first is Katleen Brogan‟s study. It discusses about “American Stories of Cultural Haunting: Tales of Heirs and Ethnographers.” The second is “Looting American Culture: Bharati Mukherjee‟s Immigrant Narratives” written by Jennifer Drake. The third is from Lusandiana ‟s study that discusses the description of the society through Restrepo‟s The Angel of Galilea by modernism and postmodernism approach. The fourth is Parameswaran‟s study discussing about the background of The Management of Grief is written by Bharati Mukherjee. In this study, it mentions that culture and event at the time influence the short story. This undergraduate thesis attempts to show how the aspects of postmodernism of the social condition are depicted in Bharati Mukherjee‟s The Management of Grief.

B. Review of Related Theories

This undergraduate thesis has two points to be discussed. They are the depiction of the setting and aspects of postmodernism. Therefore, this undergraduate thesis needs theories on the two fields to answer and analyze the problem formulation.